Book Review: The Assistants by Camille Perri

When I first spotted The Assistants on twitter, it instantly picked my curiosity. What exactly had this assistant done? And more importantly, how? I was very glad when I received a review copy and I started reading immediately. Here are my thoughts:

Blurb: Behind every successful man is a busy assistant and Tina’s boss is very successful.

But Tina is tired of being overworked and underpaid.

She’s bored of her damp flat and her mounting debts.

Then a blip in the expenses system sends Tina a cheque.

She’s a good person.

But she’s desperate.

This isn’t stealing.

It’s an administrative error.

Right?

What would you do if you thought you’d get away with it?

First of all I would like to thank the publisher for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

Review: After reading the blurb, I was very curious about this story. How could two simple assistants become modern day Robin Hoods without any of the big bosses realising? Well, for starters, one thing that we soon found out is that these girls were not simple nor stupid. They were intelligent, educated and capable women that had an underpaid job in a huge corporation that had more money than most countries. So when one of them finds herself with a check that will cover her college debt because of an administrative error, the temptation is too high.

The story is narrated by one of these assistants, Tina Fontana, the original thief. Her situation made me think a lot, that check could completely change her life. For the same amount, her boss would fly a tree from the other side of the world just because it looked good in his garden. How could she not take it, especially when no one would even realise it was missing? Difficult to answer, right?

But as in many things, once you've tried it... you can't stop. When an other assistant realises what Tina has done, she wants to do the same. And from this moment we witness a snowball effect. They turn into "professional thieves" and you never know when or how they are going to stop.

But this story is not only about how they stole money but a very clever and sharp critique to the capital world we live in and how big corporations rule the world and basically decide what is legal and what is not. Tina Fontana's comments and insights were smart and sassy and I really enjoyed living this adventure through her eyes. I had no idea how the story was going to end and it managed to surprise me more than once. It also had a sweeter subplot involving a certain Kevin Handsome that I found really cute and contrasted really well with the main plot.

All in all, The Assistants is a clever and well executed story with some killing one liners that will make you laugh but also will make you stop and think, how can this world we live in work the way it is?